Columnist and author ROBERT MACKLIN popped by the Chinese embassy on Christmas Day on a small goodwill mission.

On Christmas Day I dropped a little present off to the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian: a copy of my 2017 book, Dragon and Kangaroo. 

Though we hadn’t met, it seemed his brief was to improve people-to-people relations between our two countries and I figured that’s worth a little encouragement.

Published by Hachette, it’s a fairly straightforward chronicle of a complicated and uneasy relationship over the 200 years since John Macarthur imported the first Chinese shepherds to tend his growing flocks of Merinos in 1833.

It followed almost a dozen tourist visits to China by my wife Wendy and I from 1999 to 2014; including a lecture tour to three Chinese universities and the translation of several of my Australian history books – including the authorised biography of PM Kevin Rudd. 

It was greatly assisted by Richard Rigby, then associate director of the ANU’s China in the World centre established by Rudd, and a list of former Australian ambassadors to China, from Stephen Fitzgerald to Ross Garnaut, Ric Smith, David Irvine and Mike Lightowler.

The text was completed in 1916, shortly after Malcolm Turnbull ousted Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who had taken great pleasure in hosting an address to the Parliament by the visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

“Dear friends,” Xi told Parliament, “we Chinese are striving to achieve the Chinese dream, which is a great renewal of the Chinese nation. [It] is about enhancing the strength and prosperity of the nation and the wellbeing of the Chinese people.

“China is a large country of 1.3 billion people. It is like the big guy in the crowd. Others naturally wonder how the big guy will move and act.”

Answering his own question, he said: “In modern times China was ravaged by turmoil and war for more than a century and development and a decent life were beyond the reach of its people. 

“Having gone through this, China will never subject any country or nation to the same ordeal. While China is big in size, our forefathers realised over 2000 years ago that a warlike state, however big it may be, will eventually fall.”

“Nevertheless,” I wrote, “America’s Middle East forays in Afghanistan and Iraq provided China with the chance to bring the return of Taiwan to the People’s Republic to the front line of his nation’s ambitions.” 

Seven years later, that issue is still unresolved and with America facing the opprobrium of chief Israeli apologist for the horrors of Gaza, the stalemate of the Ukraine-Russia war and the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, 2024 could be a watershed year.

But I must confess that my Christmas gesture was powered more by selfish motives. During that relatively friendly period of Australia-China relations I had written two screenplays featuring Australia/China themes – a biopic of the great Australian journalist GE. Morrison and a saga inspired by Sam Pu, our only Chinese bushranger – as well as a three-generation Treatment of a Chinese family in Australia, a real melodrama. If they reached the silver screen, they might well improve the people-to-people relationship.

At one stage, all looked very promising, and I travelled to Beijing a couple of times in an effort to bring them to the screen. But then came Turnbull and the other Morrison and everything fell apart. 

They probably won’t get made during my lifetime, but I figured if I could make some inroads with the Ambo, my sons – and the estate – would reap the benefits. 

Alas, when I arrived, mine was the only pressie to be left in its sad little Christmas paper bag. There wasn’t even a guard to put it under cover and half an hour later the rain bucketed down. Oh well, maybe he reads CityNews…

robert@robertmacklin.com